My Pilot's Notebook

[Olham 164]

Two pics of my notebook, that I use to note all I found important on my flights - mainly mission,

the kills, craft types and squadrons; perhaps ace names.

I must admit, that it could be done more neatly, and more detailed - everybody may do as they like.

It is definitely raising my immersion; so I thought, perhaps you like it too.

 

Edit/PS: I admit, that that was a VERY successful day - they are not always like that.

Edited July 11, 2009 by Olham

[Ogmund 0]

That is a very cool idea. I wonder if any of the services had some kind of standardized report form to fill out on return from a mission. If so it would be great to see a copy and reproduce a version for OFF.

 

You did indeed have a fine day. Mine consisted of patrolling for two hours through snow and thunderstoms, trying to keep my skittish crate pointed in the right direction. No enemy sightings at all.

[Olham 164]

You can always create a second pilot (you may have more first names?) and start his carreer in summer.

Feels much nicer - summer 1917, from May on - lovely (except the 'crumpets').

[Hasse Wind 46]

Nice to see I'm not the only one who has a special notebook for OFF, though my book is filled with quickly written lines that are probably impossible to decipher by anybody else than me. As I have several pilots, I have devoted different sections of the notebook to each of them. I've been making notes almost from the day I created my first pilot for OFF, so you can imagine I've gone through quite a few pages. But it's fun to take a look at what my pilots did when they were alive. Almost all of them have experienced some special circumstances that are worth writing down for future reference. Yeah, I'm probably crazy for writing all that stuff. If some archaeologist finds my notebooks in the distant future, they probably think I was some lunatic who imagined himself fighting in the Great War as a pilot.

 

Edit: I forgot to mention that's a very nice looking notebook, Olham. To make it even more authentic, you should use the old handwriting.

Edited July 11, 2009 by Hasse Wind

[Winston DoRight 3]

It's always good to keep notes. If you've seen the movie "The Red Baron", did any of you notice Lothar frantically writing on his map during one of the dogfight scenes?

 

Here's how I do it. My kneepad is made from a piece of scrap foamboard with an overlay of clear plastic sheet from a report cover. It's easily written on and erased using a dry-erase pen. The front side has space for your flight members and the mission objective, and the flip side has the enemy info that you'll need for writing your claims story. I have a replacement underlay for the back side with aircraft from the other side, easily swapped by removing the clips that hold the whole thing together.

 

Next mission, wipe the whole thing down and start over.

[Check Six 2]

What my method is...I have a large workstation, with two cupboard spaces either side of my monitor. On my Squadron board, I have written on small individual Post-It notes the names of Squadron Aces that accompany me on my first flight, then on subsequent flights. Next to them, but seperated by a piece of tape is my Flight. I look at who is in Flight 1 accompanying my flight, and remove the Aces names and place them on the "Flight 1" space, and another Post-It note with "Plus two" on it for the usual unnamed pilots in Flight 1. Then I look at my flight, I have my Flight Leader's space, under it my name, and a space for "My wingman", and spaces for others in my flight. So on that cupboard, I have all the names recorded of all named pilots accompanying me.

 

On the other side, I have another piece of tape dividing it into halves. On one side I have my individual Post-It notes for Enemy Squadrons, and enemy aircraft types.

 

During my sortie, if we encounter enemy aircraft, and it is going to develop into combat, I take (for instance) the Post-It note "Albatross DII" from the left side of the board and place it on the right. I rely on memory for their numbers. As I use labels "on", you can see before it develops into a furball how many you're up against. As they get much closer to manoeuvre for the fight, you will see thier markings, and the labels tell you they are from Jasta 2 (for instance). I take my "Jasta 2" Post-It note from the left side and place it on the right. So I have my flight's names on the right hand cupboard door, and on the left I have "Jasta 2" and "Albatross DII".

 

If I'm fortunate enough to take an opponent out, I pause the action, press "Z", write down the time and Lat. and Long. (maybe also altitude),close that menu, open "M" map and record "5 miles SE of Arras". Another method is to press "Z" and take a screenshot.

 

So I find this method useful for me. After a few flights, you will have individually recorded all the Aces names, the individuals that are in your flight, the Jastas that oppose you in that area at that time, and their aircraft type. All you need to do is to grab the notes of each pilot before take off, and before combat just grab the opposing aircraft type and Squadron and place it on the "active" side of the board without even having to pause the action to take notes. If I get a kill, I pause and either write the details down or press "Z" and take a screenshot.

 

Works for me, less writing down every mission...they're there for you, just grab them from "Inactive" and place them on "active" side. Great for when your wingman goes on leave. If you die you can rejoin the squadron on the same date, different name, all the aces, squadrons etc will be the same. Occasionally, you'll need to write a new pilot's name on another Post-It note, or a new squadron or aircraft type.

 

Like I said...works for me.

[+Winder 32]

So pleased to see the immersion extended to this sort of role playing - exactly what OFF is intended to do!

 

Thanks

 

 

WM

[Check Six 2]

Winder,

 

No, thank YOU, and all the devs! I have flown flight sims for some time, waiting in vain for a WW1 sim. RB came along and I was in seventh heaven. After a while, it got a bit ho hum (just a bit). You could set the realism high and get a bit of a thrill to down an enemy in a sortie, or wind it all the way back and yawn as you returned with another bag of five. If you were shot down, you waited for the "Mission has ended. Would you like to save this mission?" window. UMM. NO THANKS, not this time. That was a...practice run, and I think they cheated anyway.

 

It is due to the realism that you people have put into this sim that makes us feel so...alive! It IS real out there. How many posts have you seen from people saying they had sweaty palms and were clenching...err...certain orifices so tight, that felt a wave of relief overcome them...and all they did was LAND! They survived! Up against the Rittmeister and five of his best pilots, or made it home after Albert Ball shot the hell out of your Albatross.

 

It is due to being presented with a claim form that you need to fill out and await the outcome. It is racking your brain to remember how long into the flight you took out that pesky Fokker because you feel you DESERVE to have your claim approved. Where was that?...must have been just North of Arras.

 

It is being genuinely frightened when you see five Albatrosses above you heading towards you. It is being genuinely relieved to find they had strict mission orders, and left you alone. It is struggling to achieve the best climb rate. It is how steep a dive can I afford to make before I rip my wings off. It is wanting to fly all the way there and all the way back, and not warp, because you need to get used to the nose up attitude of your triplane.

 

It is the beautiful sunsets. A glorious end to another day. You made it. Tomorrow you may die.

 

No, Winder...THANK YOU!